Different Start, Different End?
by Ronin109
Summary: What if Shinji and Asuka had known and lived together for a time before being reunited at TokyoThree? Just how much of their relationship would change? And what about their relations with everyone else? Based off work by Bucky1 and RampagingEvaneglion


**Different Start, Different End?**

_What if Asuka and Shinji had live together for a time before meeting up again in Tokyo-Three? Just how much would change not only between the two pilots but their relationships with everyone else?_

A/N: Hey All, Here's my latest work of love: _Different Start, Different End? _Before the unavoidable flaming starts, I take no credit in coming up with the concept/plot or do claim to be the originator of the particular plot. I got the idea from Bucky1's **Old**** Friends, New enemies** and RampagingEvangelion's **Different Beginnings**. I've read both of them and loved the idea but was sadden by many things, namely the fact they both seem to be discontinued for the moment. So after at least sending out request for permission from the mentioned authors, I'm now attempting to create my own version of the story.

Warning: May contain moderate to severe OoC, AU?, language and potential nudity/adult situations.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own NGE, Gainax, and the rights to the manga series and I doubt that I ever will unless Santa does finally read my Christmas list for once. I also do not claim to be the originator of this particular plot/concept. While I asked permission from both authors and received permission from one _(reply pending on the other)_ for any reason shall either author wish I discontinue this fan-fiction, I will remove as much of it as I possibly can on their request.

* * *

"Now remember Shinji, be on your best behavior now. This young lady is going to be staying with us for a while so I don't want you to insult her." 

"Yes Auntie."

"That's right Shinji, we don't want you to go and make this young lady feel unwelcome. She has traveled a long way from home so you need to be a good boy so not to make her uncomfortable."

"Yes Uncle."

Shinji Ikari, age four, flinched slightly as his aunt put the final touches on the dress shirt she had given him for the occasion. The boy honestly didn't like the clothing that was given to him; they were uncomfortable and made him sweat. But he still wore them and without complaint. His aunt said that unless he wore them he would insult the lady that was coming and he didn't want to do that. He didn't want to make things more difficult for his aunt and uncle by insulting their guest.

After his aunt put the finishing touches on Shinji's clothes the small group of relatives sat down and waited for the arrival of the girl that was going to live with them. Shinji was told that it was going to be soon, that the young lady was already on her way. All Shinji had to do was be polite and not doing anything unless his aunt or uncle said it was ok. So for the moment the group waited for the guest who Shinji thought would be arriving soon.

And for a while no one came.

At least, in the mind of a four year old it was a while. Time was barely a concept for such a young mind but the lack of activity was clear to the boy as night and day. Still, he waited patiently for the arrival of his guardian's guest. He didn't want to be a burden to them and he also didn't want to be rude toward the guest.

"Shinji! Look how sweaty you are, you practically drenched your clothes! You can't politely introduce yourself now!"

Shinji flinched slightly at the look of frustration that was on his aunt's face when she said that. If he could, he would have tried not to have sweated so much but it was just so hot for the young boy. The dress clothes that his aunt told him to wear only made him even hotter and sweat even more. Bowing his sweat covered head; Shinji said the only words that came to his mind at the moment. "I'm sorry."

-Ding-Dong-

It was at that moment the bell to the front door rang, signaling the arrival the long awaited guest. Shinji's aunt let out a frustrated sigh at this, not believing the horrible timing of everything. "Oh dear they've arrive. Now Shinji, I want you to go upstairs and wait there for me until I can find some fresh clothes that will make you presentable enough for our guest. Do you understand?"

Nodding slightly, a weak "Yes Ma'am," came from Shinji's lips before he made his way out of the living room and upstairs while his aunt and uncle went to greet their guest. While climbing the stairs, Shinji momentarily stopped when he heard the front door opened and looked down for no particular reason. At his angle, his aunt and uncle prevent him from having a clear view of just who was at the door. What he could see was a woman, one that wore a man's business suit and had sunglasses on her face. He also saw something that was red, but he couldn't tell what it was. Shinji shook at the thought of living with such a lady. She looked scary to him.

Silently entering his room, Shinji took a seat and waited for his aunt to bring the new set of clothes she said that she would bring so that Shinji could present himself to the lady and not insult her.

Once again Shinji found himself waiting with no signs of someone coming.

That was, until someone opened the door. "He! Das ist nicht das Badezimmer!... Wer sind Sie?" ((-See bottom for A/N and intended translation-))

Shinji was surprised to see who it was since it wasn't his aunt. It was a little girl, around his height but with long red hair. Shinji hadn't seen someone with such hair before and he most certainly didn't understand what she just said to him. "Hallo?! Ich sagte Wer sind Sie?" The red-head girl seemed to be getting angry for some reason that was beyond the boy. "Ummmm . . . HHello? Who are you?" Shinji was about to pipe out.

"Können Sie nicht dutche sprechen? . . . Oh Recht . . . Errr . . . Wie sagen Sie es?" Shinji watched as the girl nodded her head slightly as she seemed to try to think of something to say. Honestly, Shinji was scared of this girl who spoke words he couldn't understand. After a few moments, the girl seemed to finish what she was thinking about. "Errr . . . Ummmm . . . Hello? Me . . . Asuka Langley Soryu. You?"

Shinji just started blankly at the girl in front of him. First were those strange words, then she talks so simply and slowly? It was . . . It was . . . "He . . . hehe . . . Hahaha! You talk funny!" . . . funny to the young boy. As Shinji laughed, the red-head only seemed to get angry as her face turned the color of her hair.

Shinji stopped when he noticed who upset this girl named Asuka was becoming. She turned to leave but Shinji put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you mad." Asuka glared at Shinji, seemingly not accepting the apology or fully understanding it for one thing. Finally, she did face the boy again but stuck an odd stance as she held out one hand to the boy, as if waiting for something. Shinji looked blankly at the girl and her hand, not getting what she wanted. After a few moments of nothing the girl let out a sigh before pointing at herself with her free hand. "Asuka . . ." Then she pointed at Shinji before holding out her hand again.

"Huh? I don't . . . oh." In a moment of brilliance commendable for a four year old, Shinji mimicked what Asuka did only putting his own name in since that is what he thought the girl wanted. "Shinji" The boy said, pointing to himself before taking the girl's hand with his own. The girl smiled at this and began moving her hand up and down so to create a hand-shake.

The room then started to get brighter, slowly dissolving the entire room in a bright light. Before all was consumed, the young boy saw Asuka's mouth move before hearing the words she was saying to him.

"Wollen wir Freunde Sein . . ."

". . . Shinji"

* * *

_The Hell Neko Writing Group Proudly Presents_

**Different Start, Different End?**

_A special thanks to Bucky1 and RampagingEvangelion for concept and/or inspiration._

"Shinji . . . Shinji?. . . . Shinji?"

"Wha?"

"Shinji!"

Shinji's eyes shot open when he felt something hard hit him in the back of the head. It wasn't a hard blow to the head but it was hard enough to cause Shinji to wince slightly. "Ow!" The boy unconsciously said, rubbing where he was hit even though there wasn't any real pain left to comfort.

Walking out from somewhere behind Shinji came Ritsuko Akagi, a somewhat annoyed look on her face as she lifted up her trusty clip board to write something down. "Falling asleep Shinji? I hope that we're not boring to you that much." The chief scientist of Nerv said before scribbling some more stuff down.

"No – I didn't mean – I'm Sorry." Shinji lowered his head slightly as he piped his apology. He didn't mean to doze off and he mental kicked himself for doing so. He didn't know why he was so tired, but in his mind that didn't excuse him for the fact that he did.

"Ah don't give too much of a hard time, Ritsuko." said a voice from behind Shinji. "I bet he was just thinking about some special lady." A line of crimson crossed Shinji's face as he spun around at the speaker. "M-Misato!" Misato Katsuragi, Chief of Operations of Nerv and Shinji's guardian, laughed merrily at the sight of Shinji's flustered face. Ritsuko, however, let out a sigh that could hardly be taken as one that hinted 'amusement' at the behavior of her long time friend.

"Excuse me, Pilot Ikari." Shinji jumped slightly at the third, monotone voice that had spoken to him. Even though Rei and technically been there the entire time, the lack of any involvement of what was happening up to that point made it easy to forget that she was there. Trying to compose himself from both Misato's teasing and the sudden shock, Shinji looked to Rei who was more or less standing next to him. "Y-Yes Ayanami?"

"I was wondering if you could explain to me why you would need to be think about a 'special lady' as the Captain put it, while we are about to be briefed." Shinji was absolutely dumbfounded by Rei's question. With Rei's voice and facial expressions the same as they always were, meaning without any emotion what so every, it was impossible to tell if Rei was trying to take part in the teasing or she was honestly serious. Whatever the reason, it was enough to cause Misato to clench her sides due to the fact she was laughing so hard.

That was until Ritsuko took matters in her own hands and hit Misato in the head with her clip board in the same way she had hit Shinji not long before. It should also be noticed that Ritsuko hit Misato much harder than how she hit Shinji. "Enough with this foolishness, Misato!" After briefly explaining to Rei that what Misato had said was irrelevant, Ritsuko sat down in a small chair that was set for her and motioned for everyone to look at a large screen that took up one of the walls.

"Now that I have all of your attention . . ." Ritsuko pulled out a small remote that she had in her pocket and pointed it at the screen. The room lights dimmed as various slides concerning the 'confidentiality' of the information about to be shown began to cycle through the screen. "As you've been told before, Eva Unit-Two and its designated Pilot, the Second Child, were on route to Japan to join us here in Tokyo-Three." Ritsuko pressed a button on the remote, beginning a cycle of pictures of the mentioned Eva in various stages of development and testing. There were no pictures of the pilot, however, but no one asked why this was so. "At approximately 3:00 P.M. local time, the U.N. Pacific Fleet charged with protecting and transporting both pilot and Eva was attacked by a creature later identified as the seventh angel."

Ritsuko pressed the button again, and on screen was a picture of a cat playing with a little cat nip ball. Misato chuckled slightly, recognizing the cat as just one of many Ritsuko's preferred companions, her cats. "So Charley was an Angel? Guess it must have been a shocker to you Ristu-chan!" Misato chuckled slightly and Ritsuko cursed slightly as she went to the next slide. "Forget that last one."

The next slide was that of the actual angel. In the picture was just the head of something that looked like a cross between whale and an aquatic-dinosaur with a giant mouth complete with razor sharp teeth. The waves around it indicated it was swimming at high speeds and the size of its head alone was larger than most ships afloat. "At 3:05, Eva Unit Two was activated on reserve power and engaged the Angel despite not being equipped with the proper equipment for water combat. What I'm about to show you as a compiled video of the battle."

Pressing one more button, the screen went blank for a moment before aerial view of Pacific Fleet appeared on screen. Shinji, even though being in no way a military fan like his friend Kensuke, found himself in silent awe at the sear size of the fleet. However, he did not have much time to admire the fleet as the video cut to that of a view from one of the ships which showed a sudden pillar of water bursting up from one of the escort ships followed by a round of explosions. In the background were the curses of various men, some of them were screaming while others were cursing in a state of confusion while other demanded to know what was going on.

Various ships of the fleet tried to fight back, launching torpedoes and such at their underwater attacker. While it was clear that several shots hit their mark, the angel didn't even seemed fazed as it easily maneuvered through the fleet. In the background the horrified yells of curses of officers could be heard, demanding to know just why nothing they had seemed to even slow the angel down.

'Target Approaching Rear Transport Ship!'

The video cut again, showing the wall of water that told just where the angel was just moments before it smashed into the port side of the transport ship in what was sure to be a mortal blow. Just before the transport erupted in a flaming ball of twisted metal and fire, what looked like a huge cloak human jumped away from the destroyed transport and landed on one of the destroyers. Shinji remarked to himself how the figure, which he correctly assumed was Unit-02, standing there with it's cloak looked like something you would see straight out of an anime as the mysterious hero made his or her big entrance.

The angel immediately went for destroyer the Eva was on. Just as the angel was about to ram the destroyer, Unit-02 jumped off the destroyer and landed on a nearby carrier, in the process of doing so ditching it's 'cloak' and pulling out it's progressive knife.

The angel once again went after Unit-02, this time surfacing for the first time for a head on attack. When it got close, the angel jumped at off the water with its mouth wide open and headed straight for Unit-02. At first, Unit-02 did nothing, but at the last moment it lunged forward and took a powerful swing with its progressive knife. The angel lot out an ear-shattering roar as Unit-Two's progressive knife tore through the angel's underside, unleashing a wave of blood and guts into the angel had fallen back into the ocean. The video ended with a shot of Unit-Two still standing on the carrier, ready for the angel to make attack that would never come.

"After that two battleships fired at the angel at point blank range." Ritsuko commented as she looked over her clip board for a moment before she continued. "It's true that the Second Child had help from the majority of the U.N. Pacific fleet but she defeated the Angel within thirty-six seconds before the internal batteries could run out."

Shinji could not help but look in awe at the frozen image of Unit-02 on the screen. What he had just seen was . . . amazing, an impossible level that someone like himself could never reach even if he spent his entire life and then some more training. He wondered to himself just what kind of person the Second Child. He knew that she was around his age, but other than that, nothing. He didn't even know her name.

"Evasive maneuvers, decision making, piloting skills – Whatever you look at, she is perfect." Clicking her pen, Ritsuko stopped to scribble more notes down on her clip board. "It's hard to believe this actually happened. It seems that the Second Child's abilities far surpass the rumors."

Misato crossed her arms slightly, thinking to herself for a moment. Her teasing mood has passed, so now it was straight to business "Question is . . . why was the angel **there**? The pervious angels have only targeted Tokyo-Three." Ritsuko shrugged slightly as Misato's question. "Most likely it was after Unit-02 but I guess anything is possible with the angels."

Misato nodded slightly in agreement with her friend. "And where is Unit-02 now?"

"It's in Cage No. 5, the cold storage unit. The Second Child has checked into a hotel until we can assign her to a more permanent residence." Misato opened her mouth to say one more thing when a previously silent voice entered the conversation. "Excuse me." Both Misato and Ritsuko were surprised at the unexpected arrival and turned to Shinji as he walked toward the two women. "If you don't mind me asking, but just what is the Second Child like?"

Ritsuko was somewhat surprised in Shinji's sudden interest in the Second Child. However it wasn't anything to weird. After all, anyone would be interested in learning about someone who was coming to work with you. "She's very bright, that's for sure. She graduated from a German University at fourteen." Shinji's eye_s_ widened at Ritsuko's revelation. "She graduated from a University!?"

Ritsuko thought that would be an appropriate reaction but still it was somewhat humorous to see acted out. Please the fact that this was Shinji, the boy that at times seemed as lively as Rei, that was reacting in such as way._'I guess I can relate to Misato a little more . . . even though I just told the truth'_

Ritsuko nodded before returning to her notes. "And from what I hear, the Second Child is also said to be very attractive. I also heard she worked part time as a model." Shinji's mind was now on overdrive, trying to imagine just what kind of person this Second Child was. While Shinji thought, Misato poked Ritsuko slightly and whispered _'What? I never heard about Asuka being a modal.'_ Ritsuko just chuckled slightly at Misato's question. _'The Second Child isn't. Who says you're the only one that can tease?'_ The Misato laugh was much more noticeable as she whispered something to Ritsuko about 'Welcome to the dark side,' much to the confusion of Shinji.

"Anyway . . . I'll introduce you to her tomorrow after we go through all the official procedures and formalities. Looks like you have something to look forward to Shinji. Just be sure not to lose any sleep because of it." Shinji shot Misato a weak glare which the Captain only laughed off with false apologetic smile and a wink. "Anyway, Be sure to be at HQ after school, ok?"

"Sure thing." With that, both Shinji and Rei left the two woman alone as the entered the nearby elevator.

_0000000000_

_Ding Dong Ding Dong_

"Rise! Bow! Dismissed!"

In mere moments after the class representative's final words, the classroom on A-1 of Tokyo-Three Junior High School broke down from a group of students talking to each other via chat room thanks to the school issued computers to a group of students talking to each other face to face. As usual, Shinji was finishing packing up his laptop and other school supplies, ready to head out the Nerv when someone called out to him. "Yo Ikari!" Before Shinji could turn around, the young teen felt someone slap him in the back in a friendly way. He didn't needed to turn around to see who it was, if the accent wasn't a dead give away the slap was. It was his good friend Toji Suzuhara, jock of Tokyo-Three junior high and damn proud of it. "He Toji. What's up?"

Toji offered Shinji a warm yet goofy smile before getting straight down to it. "Me and Kensuke are thinin' about checkin' out that new arcade dat they opened up. Wanna come?" By this time Shinji's other friend, the self-proclaimed military otaku of Tokyo-Three had walked up. "Yeah Shinji, I heard they got in the latest games from almost every game producer around. It's really going to be fun."

As much as Shinji wanted to spend time with his friends, there was something else on his mind right now. Mainly, he was spouse to head back to Nerv so he could meet the new pilot. "Sorry guys but I have to head to Nerv right now. You know how it is." The two other boys were sadden by the fact Shinji couldn't join them but that didn't stop them. "Well that's to bad. But you can still walk with us right? After all the arcade is in the same general direction as Nerv."

It didn't take much effort of his friends to finally convince Shinji it would be alright. The arcade wasn't that far from the path the pilot normally took to Nerv so it shouldn't be that much of a big deal.

As the three boys started to make there way out of the class room, something strange happened.

"See you later, Ikari. I will go on ahead."

Outside the classroom in the mist of the grouping of the other students leaving their classrooms was Rei. There was no clear indication to suggest she was waiting for Shinji or that she had just noticed him leaving the room but for whatever reason she just spoke to Shinji without any reason and left just as fast, leaving three bewildered junior high students in her wake.

_0000000000_

"Hey Ikari, what in da would was dat all about?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, for one thing she actually spoke to you! I mean Ayanami never talks to anyone and I mean anyone. Yet out of the blue she just talks to you for no apparent reason what so ever!"

Shinji sighed slightly to himself though not loud enough to bring the notice of his two friends. He was honestly just as confused as they were in this whole ordeal. Once again he found himself wondering just what happens in Rei's mind. Rei . . . Shinji just didn't understand the girl. There was always some sort of mystery when it came to Rei, no matter it be her personality, to her past, her connection with his father. Nothing seemed to make sense with her. And now, after the whole incident with the Fifth and even what happened after school . . . he didn't know what to think.

"Hey Ikari . . . Hello . . . I-ka-ri?"

Shinji's train of thought was broken when he felt someone put the arm around him and then pull the scrawny teen into a headlock. "T-Toji?!"

"Damn ya Ikari I bet something did happen between you and Ayanami other-wide ya wouldn' clam up like dat!" Toji slightly increased the pressure on the headlock on Shinji. Not enough to hurt the frail boy, of coarse, but not weak enough to spar the boy any mercy. "Dammit, Shinji save something for the rest of us! You already life with a beauty like Misato . . . isn't that enough?!" Kensuke just walked ahead of his two friends, looking to the sky as if asking 'why, God, why?'

"As you're punishment for hogging all the babes, Ikari is goin' ta buy us a few drinks!" Mind you all that not in the way that could be taken, but in this case it just meant a few sodas from one of the countless vending machines scattered around Tokyo-Three. This had more less become a habit amongst the three friends when they meet after school, one of them buys some sodas for the entire group ect ect. There was an order, but that was irrelevant for this case.

"And look, there one just across the street!" Kensuke pointed to a vending machine just across the street. "How convenient considering the arcade is just around the corner."

"You guys are really annoying some times, you know that?" After being released from his headlock, Shinji wasn't actually a happy camper about all of this. But still he decided to get the drinks anyway as tradition states.

"But ya love us anyway!" Toji joked as Shinji started to cross the street and toward the pair of vending machines. Toji and Kensuke rounded the street corner to head to the arcade they've been traveling two but without warning Kensuke froze, almost tripping Toji in the process. "Yo Kensuke, what's wrong with . . ." Looking in the same general direction as his long time friend, Toji saw what had frozen his friend.

Up ahead, at the very arcade that the small group of friends was heading to, playing one of the arcade's crane games was one very attractive girl wearing a bright yellow sundress (which he noted did little to hide her movie star like shape). The girl's long strawberry blond hair just seemed to make her more exotic compared to most of the Japanese girl's Toji was used to seeing. Plus the fact that the position she was in allowed anyone low enough to the ground get glimpse of her panties.

"Whoa! That is one Babe!"

"Yeah! She's totally my type!"

With a look of pure perversion on the two's faces and not a word more between the two boys, both of them started to get as low to the ground as they possible could. _'Just a bit more and I can see . . .'_ Kensuke thought to himself as he ever so closer to the ground so to get every so closer to the grand prize.

Meanwhile, the red-head was smiling for she had finally managed to get a good grasp of the small prize she was going for. Slowly the crane rose up, and as it rose the girls smile grew more and more confident. Without much reason, however, the prize slipped out of the crane's grasp and fell back into the collect of other prizes. "ACH!" In a fit of pure frustration, the red-hair stepped back and landed a powerful if not impressive cut into the machine, releasing a stream of curses in some other language that wasn't Japanese.

Toji's jaw dropped at this spectacle for never in his mind did he expect the former goddess in his eyes have such a explosive personality at such a thing. "Now too bad about that personality." The Jock commented, about to entered the arcade as far away from the red-haired bitch as possible. He stopped however, when he noticed Kensuke wasn't following him.

"Now just once I wish a girl like that would order Me around!"

Toji almost face-faulted at the almost admiring and sappy way Kensuke was speaking. "Are you for real!?"

"Hey what are you two idiots looking at!?"

Toji tensed slightly, after all he and Kensuke had been caught red handed, their hands in the cookie jar, up the river without a paddle and all that stuff. "N-Nuttin' . . ." Toji sputtered out, waving his hands in a negative fashion all the while trying to figure at out a way to get out of there. Kensuke, of coarse, was not helping since the only thing he was doing was staring at the red-head like she was some sort of goddess.

With her arms crossed, the red head made her way over to the two boys and held out her hand. "Give me 100 yen, both of you" Toji blinked a few times, not sure just what the girl was after. "Huh? 100 yen . . . You crazy! Why do we have ta . . ." The girl let out a annoyed sigh as she once again crossed her arms. "Peeping fee. You two perverts were trying to look at my panties, didn't you!?"

Toji gritted his teeth a little at the girl's dead on accusation but did nothing that hinted he was going to pay up. The girl just seemed to get more annoyed at this. "Oh, Please! Now you're going to tell me you don't have any money on you, aren't you?" The girl stopped for a moment, as if sizing up Toji. "Of coarse . . .if you are broke then that would explain the way you dress. Pathetic."

By now, Shinji was walking down the street with three cans of soda in his arms. It had taken him a while and a little effort, but he wasn't going to allow the machine to eat his money. Shinji was surprised however, to see Toji and Kensuke just standing in front of the arcade and not playing the games. It seemed Toji was arguing with someone, but from his angle he couldn't really see who. "What in the world is goin-"

Shinji train of thought was broken when he heard a third voice, one with an accent very similar to Toji's. Without warning Toji and Kensuke suddenly ducked, and next thing Shinji knew a stool was coming straight at him. "?!?!?!" Shinji ducked, dropping the sodas as well as just barely dodging the stool. "What the hell-!?"

Shinji looked up to see something he would never expect. Now there was a group of guys were all getting their asses kicked by one single person and these guys weren't you every day kid, but thug/gang member-esk kind of people. He couldn't tell just who was delivering the ass-kicking to the thugs but whoever they were, they were making things one-sided. And the thugs weren't on the winning side so far.

"Ikari!" Shinji was caught off guard when he felt someone help him to his feet. Looking, he saw it was a slightly flustered Toji dragging a rather odd-looking Kensuke who was just repeating 'So cool,' over and over to no one in particular. "Toji . . . what the hell is going on? What the hell did you guys do?" The jock seemed somewhat insulted but the moment left any ill-feelings leave without thought. "What makes ya think we did it? Neve' mind, let's just get out of here!" Not wanting to get involved in any sort of a fight, Shinji agreed with his friend and soon the two boys were off, dragging Kensuke as best as they could.

That was, however, until someone grabbed the two boys by the collars of their shirts. "And just where do you think you're goin'?" Turning around, the small group of boys was confronted with yet different trio of thug like characters all of whom had a look a lion might have when it caught sight of its prey. "We're not through with you yet."

The three younger boys tensed and unconsciously backed away from the thugs. "Look pal, we got nutthin' ta do wid' dis!" Toji said but his words fell on deaf ears. "Shut yer traps!" the thug biggest of the thugs reared back his fist and landed a hard blow across the Shinji's face. Shinji let out a loud yelp of pain as he was thrown back after the blow. "Ikari!" Toji caught Shinji before he fell to the ground only to have the thug yank Shinji out of the Jock's hands. Toji then found both himself and Kensuke surrounded by the two remaining thugs, blocking off the path to Shinji.

Shinji tried to fight back but it was a one-sided fight. The thug had Shinji by the shirt collar and every attempt the pilot made to break free over even fight back was met with utter failure. The thug just smiled, obviously enjoying the chance to beat up someone who couldn't fight back effectively. Shinji could only brace himself for the pain when he saw the thug raise his arm in the air for another punch.

But instead of being punched, Shinji felt himself stumbling back onto the ground. Opening his eyes he saw the thug on the ground, knocked out and bleeding a little from his mouth. Before his mind could even register _'How?'_ he heard another yelp of pain followed by another thug landing on the ground to the side of him. "Shinji, you okay man?" Both Kensuke and Toji came to their friend's side, helping their friend up as Shinji absently rubbed his already bruising cheek.

"And you call yourself a man! You're all pathetic, you know that!" Shinji's was facing the oppsate direction of whatever the heck was going on but the screams of utter terror followed by someone Shinji recognized as one of the thugs running past him and down the street was a good indicator. But that wasn't what got Shinji's mind at the moment. For some reason Shinji felt nostalgic when he heard this new, female voice. Something his already frail psyche couldn't really explain.

After Toji and Kensuke helped him up, Shinji turned in the direction of the voice and froze instantly. For a brief moment Shinji entire mind just collapsed as it tried to figure out if he was really seeing what he was seeing.

Having dispatched the last of the thugs, the red head cleaned her hands as she mentally congratulated herself for an ass-kicking well done. She then, however, felt a pair of eyes on her and immediately jerked around in search of their owner. The red-haired teen froze when she found a pair of stormy blue eyes looking at her.

"Asu-?""Shin-?"

-WHOP-WHOP-WHOP-

Before either of the teens had their thoughts straighten out, the sound of police sirens become loud and apparent for the first time. "Damn it, the cops!" The red-head cursed before she took off running in the opposite direction the sirens were coming from. Shinji was much slower on the recovery than the red-headed girl, snapping back into reality when Toji grabbed his arm and started pulling him along. "C'mon, Ikari!We gotta get outta here! Dey'll tink it's our fault!"

"Huh-? A-Alright!" At Toji's lead, both Shinji and Kensuke took off running down the street, taking any side street and/or ally they could come across so to avoid getting caught. The trio of friends ran and ran until they could no longer hear the police siren. They didn't know how far they went but it was enough to have Toji, the trained jock, gasping for air. "Huff . . . huff . . . I . . . I tink we've lost dem."

Spending a few minutes or so catching their breath, the trio of friends took a moment to examine just what in the world happened. "Jeez . . . talk . . . talk about a close call." Kensuke wheezed out, still slightly dazed about committing to such a run despite the lack of physical exercise. "No kidden' . . . Yo Ikari, ya okay?" Shinji did not respond right away, instead his face contorted in deep thought. A few moments passed before the boy even realized something was said to him. "Huh . . . oh . . . yeah. Somewhat."

Both Kensuke and Toji eyed each other, both of them knowing they had seemed to have missed something that was far more than the fact Shinji had been punched in the face. "You sure? I mean you seem a little out of it." Shinji still denied that there was anything wrong, claiming that he was just a little light-heated after the sprint to dodge the cops. Not pursing the matter, both Kensuke and Toji bit their farewells to Shinji since the young pilot still had to go to Nerv. As his friends left, Shinji did hear a bit of their conversation.

"Dis iz all dat crazy bitch's fault! If she hadn' pissed off dat guy none of dis would have happen'!"

"But did you see how she moved! She was like so . . . so fast . . . and cool!"

For a moment, Shinji wanted to stop them and inquire about the girl from the arcade but he stopped himself. He didn't know why he froze up when he did and as a result exact his memory of the girl was sketchy because for a moment he could have sworn he saw his childhood friend. Where that girl was standing he saw what had looked like his friend Asuka, exactly as he remembered her back when they had meet for the first time about ten years ago. _'It couldn't have been her . . . Asuka is back in her Germany now. She has no reason to come back to Japan.'_

_0000000000000000_

"Damn it why won't this stupid card work! I mean they just issued this thing and it already has problems!?! Scheißen Sie!" In a fit of pure frustration, Asuka landed a number of force-filled kicks with the heel of her shoe onto the poor Nerv card reader in front of one of the security gates to the inside of Nerv. She was already in a really pissed off at the moment and the fact she couldn't even get inside her place of employment wasn't helping. "Stupid, useless worthless, God-damned piece of junk!" With one final kick, the surround area of the Nerv entry way echoed weakly with the sound of abused metal.

"Rrrrrrr . . . Scheiße" Taking a moment regain her composure, the red-haired teen stopped her ruthless assault on the non-living entity in favor of taking deep and calm breaths. Without even meaning too, her thoughts trailed back to the events around the arcade not that long ago which really didn't help her calm down. "Damn it . . . stupid perverted monkey and his bi-spectacle dork lap-dog. Not only did they try to look up my shirt but they had to cause me to bump into that ass-hole and get into that fight. And they didn't even try to help me fight off those thugs! Sigh . . . men are so spineless and weak."

For a moment, her mind traced back to what happened after the fight. When she saw that third stooge . . . the one that seemed to be friends with the monkey and the dork. She mentally kicked herself from freezing the way she did when the boy looked at her . . . but she couldn't help it. For a moment, she thought that she had seen an old friend of hers . . . for a moment she thought she saw her childhood friend, Shinji Ikari.

Asuka once again mental abused herself, having both forgotten just exactly what the boy looked like and having ran off before she had a chance to at least confirm the truth. She knew it was far from likely, impossible even given the odds. Even though it was the same country, the Shinji she knew and lived with didn't even live anywhere near Tokyo-Three or even the prefecture it was in. There was no way that he would be here, especially know out of all times.

Suppressing any other thought on the matter, Asuka once again swiped her card in the access terminal only to have the words 'Error' flash on the screen next to the card swipe. Rage boiling over, Asuka jumped back so to ready yet only barrage of kicks that promised to be more powerful than the pervious one. "You stupid piece of shi-!"

-thump-

Asuka froze instantly, hearing what sounded like someone dropping a backpack or something of that nature. Whipping around, Asuka instantly noticed the said object laying on the ground next to a pair of legs. Her eyes quickly shot up so that she could see the perpetrators face and instantly she froze for the second time that day. "Y-you're . . ."

* * *

_**Different Start, Different End?**__**, Chapter One, End.**_

* * *

**A/N:** Well everyone, that ends the first chapter to Different Start, Different End? I really hope this one can stand up the standard of its predecessors and as always criticism is much liked! But just be warned this is more work won't update as quickly as some like since most of my attention will return back to my main work, The Holy Eva Wars.

**-Translation notes-**

Before the questions start flying, the reason why Asuka's is talking the way she I had her is because I had it so she doesn't have that much of a grasp of Japanese at the time. True she's a prodigy and all that stuff, but I felt at four or five years of age I personally think she couldn't have much of a grasp of Japanese (more of the fact it makes a convenient plot device.) Anyway, here's the intended translation to Asuka's speech. (Yes, I used an internet translation program so it's, without a doubt, no where near perfect.

"Hey! This isn't da bathroom! . . . Who are you?"

"Hello? I said who are you?"

"Can't you speak German? . . . Oh Right . . . Errr . . . How do you say it?

"Let's be friends . . ."


End file.
